The number of people who suffer from some form of mobility impairment is large and growing larger every day. The causes of reduced mobility extend from the acute (sprains, fractures, problem pregnancies) to the chronic, including such causes as spinal cord injury, neuromuscular diseases, and stroke. Persons with impaired mobility face a wide variety of problems when confronting routine activities of daily living. Notable among these challenges is the simple act of transferring between a wheelchair and a bed, shower, toilet, automobile or other location.
The abstract of an article authored by H. Gellman, I. Sie, and R. L. Waters in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (CORR), dated August 1988, and entitled “Late Complications of the Weight-Bearing Upper Extremity in the Paraplegic Patient,” characterizes such challenges as follows: “Paraplegic patients rely almost exclusively on their upper extremities for weight-bearing activities such as transfers and wheelchair propulsion. Eighty-four paraplegic patients whose injury level was T2 or below and who were at least one year from spinal cord injury were screened for upper extremity complaints. Fifty-seven (67.8%) had complaints of pain in one or more areas of their upper extremities. The most common complaints were shoulder pain and/or pain relating to carpal tunnel syndrome. Twenty-five (30%) complained of shoulder pain during transfer activities. Symptoms were found to increase with time from injury. As the long-term survival of spinal cord injured patients continues to improve, an increased awareness of the complications of the weight-bearing upper extremity is necessary to keep these patients functioning in society.”
Many people use an assistive device commonly called a “transfer board” as a transfer aid to facilitate mobility. In the conventional art, these generally are flat, rigid planks of wood or plastic that are placed between the wheelchair and a desired transfer location, such as a bed or automobile seat. The boards are usually between about two feet and three feet in length (between about 60 cm and 92 cm in length), about six to eight inches wide (between about 15 cm and 20 cm in width), and about an inch (about 2.54 cm) or less thick.
The transfer board is smooth and supports the weight of the person as he or she slides from one location to the other. The board reduces the strain on the person's upper extremities and in many cases provides a degree of independence not otherwise possible. Transfer boards are also very useful to personal-care attendants who must transfer patients from bed to wheelchair. Without such an assistive device, the caretakers risk injury from lifting or shifting the patient's body weight.
Common transfer boards are simple wooden planks that are usually rectangular but may be shaped with cutouts to accommodate wheelchair configurations. Specialized versions can feature multi-part assemblies with a sliding seat mounted on a support rail. Such conventional transfer boards generally have at least one seamless member that extends all the way between opposing ends of the transfer board. Accordingly, conventional transfer boards typically lack portability. Handicapped people often find packing such a conventional transfer board during travel impracticable, whether they are routinely moving around town in taxis or vacationing overseas. A wheelchair-bound person traveling with a conventional transfer board is akin to toting a skate board or snowboard everywhere—highly undesirable. In addition to being bulky, these solid-wood or compound boards often weigh several pounds. Coupled with the numerous other mobility challenges, many handicapped people just stay home, to the detriment of society, their caretakers and loved ones, and themselves.
In view of the foregoing discussion of representative deficiencies in the art, need is apparent for improved technologies for transferring people who are wheelchair bound or otherwise handicapped. Moreover, such people experience long-felt need for relief. Need is apparent for a transfer board with improved portability. Need exists for a transfer board that is collapsible or that can be readily assembled and disassembled on an as-needed basis. Need exists for a compact, reconfigurable transfer board that is lightweight. Need exists for a transfer board offering an improved strength-to-weight ratio. Need exists for a transfer board offering an improved strength-to-size ratio. Need exists for a transfer board that wheelchair-bound people can transport, assemble, configure, deploy, and/or use by themselves. Need exists for a transfer board that distributes or directs the force of a user's weight away from bony tissue. Need further exists for a transfer board that can be toted in a backpack attached to the back of a wheelchair or worn by the person. Need further exists for a transfer board that can be toted inside a package having a maximum dimension substantially smaller than the length of the transfer board when the transfer board is configured for transferring a person. Need further exists for a transfer board that can be stowed on a wheelchair, such as in a compartment or pouch attached to a wheelchair. Need further exists for a transfer board that can be carried by airliners (for example in connection with complying with a government or other policy or regulation), ships, taxis, hotels, rental-car firms, and perhaps as an option offered with the purchase of a wheelchair. A technology addressing one or more such needs, or some other related shortcoming in the art, would promote mobility of people whose mobility is otherwise compromised.